


The Green

by purple_bookcover



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Ashe Week (Fire Emblem), Nonbinary Character, Other, Outer Space, Sad Ending, felix bday week, kind of a drug reference?, nonbinary Ashe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:01:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_bookcover/pseuds/purple_bookcover
Summary: Planet A946-x is supposed to be a wasteland. Deserted. Uninhabited. A ball of greenery at the fringes of occupied space.But when Felix crash lands on the verdant planet, he not only finds life, but tempting, beautiful, freckled life.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23
Collections: Felix Birthday Week 2020





	1. Crash Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix crash lands after a fight in space. Luckily, he is rescued by a gorgeous green being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for day 6 of "Felix BDay Week," prompt "videogame AU." Honestly, I didn't stick to the prompt well on this. I just wanted to write alien fucking. 
> 
> It will quickly become very, very apparent that I'm a big fan of Star Trek TOS. 
> 
> #
> 
> For this and the rest of Felix BDay Week, I am doing ASHELIX WEEK. I am posting 7 new fics. On Ashe Week (in March), I'll be posting Chapter 2 of ALL seven fics. So come back then for the conclusion to these stories.

Felix checked his instruments. There they were, blips on the radar, flashing red dots creeping closer with each pulse of the machinery in the cockpit. Right on time.

He couldn't help but smile as he switched the ship off autopilot and took the controls in his hands. The Empire thought this little backwoods planet at the edge of Kingdom territory would prove an easy score. 

They were wrong.

Felix skimmed just out of reach of the little green planet's gravity. Oceans carved between swaths of lush, verdant land, filling Felix's view as he rolled the ship to the side. Then there was only the black of the boundless heavens as he leveled out. He scanned, using his eyes rather than his machinery, and finally spotted lights in the distance, red and blue and moving too erratically to be stars. 

“Felix,” Commander Ingrid snapped in his ear. “Do not engage yet. Do you hear me? Do _not_ engage. We are developing a strategy to--”

He cut off his comms with a flick. Ingrid was right--she always was--but he hadn't died yet from ignoring her orders and he didn't plan to die today, either.

Bullets scattered across the front of his ship. He jerked to the side, rolling, cursing even as his ship spun. 

He grit his teeth, swinging the lithe ship back up to find his opponent. A sleek fighter ship with red stripes along its sides zipped away. Felix punched at his controls. The stars blurred into slashes of white as he picked up speed, the enemy ship his entire focus. It was outpacing him, for now, but Felix cut turns and dipped below debris without even pausing, gaining ground one clipped corner at a time. He fired, striking the tail of the ship but doing little real damage. Still, he could tell the enemy was panicking. Their turns were less precise, their flying getting sloppier as they felt Felix getting closer. 

That's when he saw a second ship heading straight for him. 

He only had time to curse and slam on the controls, sending his ship into a desperate dive. The suicidal enemy ship clipped him. Felix felt his entire craft shudder, heard the groan of twisting metal. Then he was spinning out of control. 

Black and green spiraled across his windows like stirred paint. He clenched his teeth to push back the nausea, yanking at the controls, fighting the damaged ship for control. He managed to slow the death spiral, but only enough to see that he was well and truly fucked. In moments, the planet's gravity would have him. Already, he could feel it pulling on the ship, dragging it into the fringes of the atmosphere. 

Felix jammed the controls. He only had one chance, one slim hope of not burning alive. Luckily, his instruments and sensors still worked. He could see on his screen where he _should_ be, hard as it would be to get there. 

He strained, trying to wrangle the ship like a bucking horse. His instruments beeped and screeched, flashing warnings at him. 

“I know,” he growled. 

He leaned into the free fall for a moment, letting the ship spin as it so desperately wanted to. Angry red warnings flared green. Felix pulled, trying to stop the momentum, steady the course. He just had to stay in this strip of fragile green. The ship quivered, rattling as it dove straight down at the planet. The green flickered red here and there, but he kept pushing. He had no choice but to lay into the gravity sending him shooting toward the surface. 

He picked up speed, far, far too much speed, but the instruments held steadfastly green. 

OK, one death averted. At least he was plummeting _correctly_ , relatively safe from burning up in the atmosphere.

But that left a dozen new problems. Felix broke through to the upper atmosphere. Air. Clouds. The verdant land masses below solidified into continents. Continents he was blasting toward in a frenzied free fall. At this rate, he'd hit the ground going so fast that his body would vaporize on impact. 

The ship began to bounce around in the turbulence of the lower atmosphere. He pulled up, tipping the nose away from the ground. If he could just get some lift, any amount of buoyancy, he might be able to cushion the impact. 

He veered toward water. That would also help, probably, maybe, unless the whole ship shattered and he drowned still strapped to his seat. 

The ship tilted. Felix rolled. One wing was so badly damaged that it couldn't hold up its end of the bargain. He cursed. He'd just keep rolling if he tried to land it.

He set the ship on the steadiest course it could manage. The ground was close now. He was about to reach the border between land and water. He had only an instant to decide.

Felix shoved a knife in his boot, grabbed a pack of emergency rations and slammed the eject button, praying to every god and goddess he could think of that this place had breathable air. 

He shot out of the cockpit. The parachute deployed. He didn't realize he was holding his breath until his lungs strained. When he finally breathed he discovered the air was ... fine. A little thin, like being up the side of a mountain, but fine. 

Another problem solved. Now he just had to survive on an alien planet with nothing but a knife and a packet of rations. 

Felix watched his ship spiral and shudder into the distance. Even as he drifted to the ground, he saw it strike the water and shatter in a spray of metal. 

“Farewell, old friend,” he said. 

Then his parachute hit a tree.

#

Felix spent his first day on the planet just getting out of the tree. It took a fair bit of cursing, and sawing through the parachute, before he was finally free.

He found himself in a lush forest. The trees spread bushy, almost hairy-looking branches. The leaves were like the fringe of a shawl. And absolutely everything was green. Green leaves. A soft, bouncy carpet of green grass below. Even the spindly trunks were faintly green. 

Felix yanked the parachute out of the tree tops to use it as a blanket at night, but he found he hardly needed it. The air was remarkably humid. Even at night, the forest retained most of its heat. Still, he kept the parachute with him when he set out the next day, not sure what he may encounter.

At first, it was mostly just more forest. It was beautiful: lush and vibrant, rustling with life, tittering with the songs of birds and the strange calls of animals Felix could not identify. Even so, it quickly became monotonous. Just green, green, green everywhere he looked. It was doing something funny to his eyes, making him feel like he could only see the world in shades of green. 

And despite the way the forest teemed with life, Felix found little to eat or drink. He survived on the rations for a few days, but water was quickly becoming urgent and he didn't so much as hear a river. When it rained on the third day, he used his boot to catch it, gulping it down despite the foulness. 

He knew he wouldn't survive long this way. Was Ingrid looking for him? He couldn't blame her for thinking he was dead. It was his own damn fault this had happened anyway, but he wouldn't begrudge a rescue party, especially as he felt the weakness and hunger and exhaustion really set in. 

It was a move of pure desperation when he took out his knife on the sixth day and tried to hunt one of the creatures he'd seen around the forest. It was almost like a rabbit, but larger and striped and bearing two long, curving front teeth. The creatures didn't seem particularly bright, though they were fast, so Felix hoped that by hiding behind a tree he could spring out and snag one. He tried not to think about the fact that he'd probably have to eat it raw, if he caught it at all, preferring to leave that problem for later. 

Felix waited, knife in hand, crouched low. His legs quivered, but he dared not move. It was either this or die. 

He shifted, the tiniest motion of his foot, and the thing's long ears shot up. 

_Shit._

He pounced, still too far away but left with no alternative. The rabbit-creature bounded away, far out of reach, and Felix bit back a cry of utter despair and frustration even as an arrow whizzed past, striking the animal and pinning it to the ground. 

He whirled, clutching his knife. An arrow meant people. People meant ... well, people could mean anything, but he prayed it meant he was about to be rescued. 

What stepped between the trees made him pause, however. It was a man, sort of. But also not at all. 

The ... man(?) lowered his bow. When he stepped between the trees, it was like watching a painting shift. His skin was the same vague, pale green as the trunks. Even his eyes were green, though darker and deeper, like the shadows beneath the boughs. His hair set him apart, a bright silver that seemed to catch every scrap of light that squeezed through the canopy. Wearing only a gauzy, skirt-like dressing that draped to his knees, Felix saw the freckle-like markings on the man's body, like he'd been made for camouflaging against the shifting greens of the forest itself. 

But it wasn't the freckles that really caught Felix's eye. It was the weapons. Beyond the bow, the man also carried multiple knives, long hunter's tools. And he had a pack on his back that could have been concealing far more.

Felix's training kicked in. Adrenaline flooded his exhausted body. He charged with the last of his strength and energy.

The man seemed surprised. Felix was able to catch him by the shoulders and shove him back against a tree. He got his knife and hand to the man's throat, pinning him to the trunk. But exhausted and depleted as he was, Felix only maintained control for a moment, then the green man grabbed his wrists, twisting until Felix had to release his knife. 

Felix heard the man gasp when Felix's hand left his throat. Then Felix was flipping, falling. His back hit the ground, knocking the air from his lungs, and the man was on top of him, straddling his chest, keeping his hands and body on the ground. 

“Calm down,” the man said, without even a hint of an accent. 

Felix wheezed for breath. “What ... the fuck?” he managed.

“I'm not going to harm you unless you keep fighting me,” the man said. “I'm Ashe. I live here. We saw your ship go down and went looking for you thinking you probably needed help.” 

“We?” Felix's voice was still a thin rasp, but it was gradually improving. 

The man smiled, an oddly endearing gesture, given the circumstances. “I suppose we're still officially 'uninhabited,' huh? They're not too keen on Divergents back up there.” 

Felix had no idea what he was talking about. All he knew was that this planet, A946-x, had been labeled “uninhabited” in every briefing Felix had ever seen in his years as a pilot. 

The man leaned close, far too close, so close Felix could have counted his freckles. He tilted his head to the side as he scrutinized Felix. “You all haven't changed very much,” Ashe said. 

“What's that mean?” Felix said. 

Ashe released one of Felix's wrists to run a finger down the side of his face. Felix shuddered at the touch. “It's been a while since we had any visitors like you. What's going on up there?” 

“A war,” Felix said. He reached up, grabbing Ashe's arm. Ashe glanced at his hand, but seemed unperturbed. “What are you? Are you a man? An alien?” 

Ashe laughed. “Neither,” he said. 

“What?”

“I'm human, if that's what you're asking,” Ashe said. “But I'm not a man.”

“Then...” 

“Neither,” Ashe said again. “Do your people not have this concept?”

“We do,” Felix said. “It's just ... uncommon.” 

Ashe shrugged. “Well, here's it's more common. We haven't been part of 'proper' society for a long time here. We don't hold as tightly to some of your ideas.” 

“Alright,” Felix said. “Then what is 'here?' Where am I?”

Ashe got off him, offering Felix a hand. Felix took it cautiously and Ashe helped him to his feet. “We call it The Green, though I'm sure that's not its official name. Come, I can show you the city. You need food and water, and probably rest.” 

“City?” Felix's head swam. 

“Here,” Ashe said. “Start with water. We'll figure out the rest later.” They freed a water skin tied around their waist and offered it to Felix. He sipped cautiously at first, but the moment the water hit his throat he gulped with gusto. 

“Easy,” Ashe said, taking the skin away. “If you drink too much too quickly you could hurt yourself.” 

Hurt himself? Felix nearly laughed. When was the last time anyone had cared if he hurt himself? Pilots fought until they died. That's just how it went. Ingrid had probably already written him off.

Ashe offered their hand again and Felix, in spite of himself, took it. Their skin was warm and human, but roughened by work. He instantly respected that sure grip, and, well, maybe it was his sorry state, but as Felix followed Ashe through the forest hand-in-hand, he felt strangely ... good. Better than he had in a long, long time. Walking through the forest with this odd person who shifted like the shadows dappling the foliage was the calmest Felix could remember feeling in ages. And not calm like the calm he felt during battle. Truly calm. Truly … peaceful. 

The trees loosened their tangled canopy. A road appeared, a path of smoothed, pressed dirt with wheel tracks tattooed across it. 

Ashe released his hand. Felix felt a stab of regret that he tried to smother. They pointed down the road, which curled between bustling forest. 

“This way,” Ashe said, starting down the road. 

After only a short way, Felix saw smoke on the horizon, faint curls that spoke of cook fires, hearths, forges. 

“We're a little over a day's walk away,” Ashe said. “We'll have to camp overnight. How do you feel?”

_Like I got rescued by a forest nymph._

_Shut up, shut up, shut up._

“Fine,” he said.

“Not very talkative, are you?” Ashe said. “I would think you'd have some questions, being an Original, and a pilot, at that.”

“What's an 'Original?'” Felix said.

“You. I mean, you'd call us Divergents, right? Well, we think of y'all as Originals.”

“That ... makes sense.”

“You're rather calm about all this,” Ashe remarked. 

Felix shrugged. “Should I panic?”

“No,” Ashe said. “I just always thought I'd have to explain more.”

“I did try to fight you,” Felix said.

“Well, that's true,” Ashe said. “So then why the sudden change?”

_That face._

_By the goddess, shut the_ fuck _up,_ Felix scolded himself. 

“You clearly don't mean me harm,” Felix said. “And even if you do, what can I do about it? I'm a step away from death.” 

“You're not that close,” Ashe said. “I think a few good meals and some rest will do you well. We can stop early tonight so we don't push you too hard.” 

“I can handle it,” Felix said.

Ashe said nothing, just continued along the road. As they walked, Ashe explained some of the foliage around them, the strange, leafy plants that their people used as the fibers for clothing, including their gauzy skirt. Plants that were good for eating, with ripe, heavy fruits like bright jewels hanging from their branches. Plants that stored water and which Ashe broke open so they could both drink. Plants that were good for shade, plants that stung, plants that ate birds and mice and other small creatures, plants that released a perfume that could intoxicate. 

Felix ended up too near this last one. A white flower with a gold pistil exhaled in his face. He instantly felt dizzy and stumbled back. Ashe caught him by the shoulders. Felix heard Ashe say something but their words were lost as Felix's head spun. Ashe was flapping a hand before Felix's face, perhaps trying to dispel the intoxicating perfume of the flower. But it was too late. Felix slumped to the ground, aided by Ashe. 

The world tilted and stretched, brightening as though someone was shining sunlight on every surface all at once. Suddenly, Felix felt like he could pick out the differences between every shade of green around him. The boughs were pale and cool like mint. The leaves were deep and dark, verdant. And Ashe. Ashe was a soft green like a sapling pushing up out of the earth, their freckles so dark they were almost purple, like the shadows skirting the base of the trees, the dark emerald that clung to the undersides of leaves and the creases in the trunks. Felix wanted to touch them, each and every one, following them down Ashe's neck and chest and--

“Felix.” Ashe shook him. “Felix, can you hear me?” 

How did Ashe know his name? Right, his pilot uniform. Felix touched the tag sewn into his jacket as though trying to remember his own name. 

Ashe was looking straight into his eyes. It should have made Felix uncomfortable. Ordinarily, he avoided eye contact just as much as possible. But Ashe's eyes ... they were warm and soft and green like a blanket woven of moss. Felix wanted to stay wrapped up in them. 

Ashe grabbed him by the elbows. They tugged, encouraging Felix to stand. Felix reached, holding Ashe's arms. The feel of skin under his fingers was like a breeze passing between the heavy canopy. He was standing, but just kept touching Ashe's arms, stroking them in wonder. 

Ashe took him by the shoulders, looking him in the eyes. “Your pupils are dilated,” they said. “We're going to have to stop here for the night, but we have to get off the road. Come on.” 

Ashe took his hand, tugging him off the road. Felix walked in a daze. The motion of his legs felt nice. The feel of Ashe's hand felt nice. The sound of the peat and leaves crackling under his feet felt nice. _Everything_ felt nice. 

Felix slouched against the tree where Ashe left him. He curled his fingers around dirt and leaves and hummus, watching it fall only to pick it back up and watch it again. Meanwhile, Ashe started setting up a sort of camp, hanging a tarp between a few close-packed trees and setting blankets beneath it. Felix liked watching them work. There was a fluidity to their movements, a grace. It was like watching a dancer. 

Felix pushed himself up against the tree. Even the scrape of the bark felt pleasant. He stumbled to Ashe, taking their hands, wavering, but the dance had stopped. 

Ashe smiled, putting a hand on Felix's cheek. “Hey, you should be sitting. You still look pretty loopy. What are you doing?” 

“I wanted ... to dance.” 

Ashe laughed and it was the most beautiful sound Felix had ever heard, like some bright, colorful bird tittering among the treetops. It lodged itself in his heart with an ecstatically painful throb.

“You should eat,” Ashe said.

“I don't want to eat,” Felix said.

“I know,” Ashe said. “But you should. Come on. Sit.” 

Ashe coaxed Felix down. They settled together on the blankets under the tarp. The world got darker, like a gray veil had fallen. But that didn't make the forest any less beautiful. Felix watched red and purple splash between the trees as this world's sun sank, watched emerald shadows stretch and reach and grow. Even in the dark, he felt like he could pick out every leaf, could draw them all from memory if asked. They all had a unique and interesting pattern, some gauzy, some furry, some sharp and hard-edged. 

“Here,” Ashe said. 

Something pressed against his mouth and Felix dutifully chewed. A burst of salt jolted his senses. Ashe had given him some sort of jerky, the most delicious, flavorful jerky he'd ever tasted. 

“See,” Ashe said, “you were hungry.” 

Felix's attention shifted. It was getting darker, especially under the tarp, and Felix mourned the fading of the light and the way the gloom blurred away Ashe's freckles. His head was clearing, somewhat, enough for him to notice the hunger gnawing at his belly and the chill creeping into the air. Felix reached, suddenly doubting that what he'd seen earlier was real. Ashe didn't recoil, letting Felix touch their face. Felix skimmed his fingertips over Ashe's cheeks, but he couldn't feel any freckles or bumps. He leaned closer, squinting through the dark, and there they were, deeper flecks of green against Ashe's skin. 

“You're close,” Ashe said. 

Felix didn't respond. He didn't care. He leaned even closer, meaning to taste each and every one of those freckles. 

Ashe stopped him, their hands on Felix's shoulders. “Hey, I'm flattered, but you're not in your right mind.” 

“I don't care,” Felix said.

“You might care later.” 

“How much later?” 

“Another hour or so, I'd guess.” 

Felix's whole body ached. An hour sounded like an eternity. And yet, if that was the price, he'd gladly pay it. “Then wait an hour. Ask me again.” 

“Two,” Ashe said.

Felix felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. “Two?” 

Ashe reached up, stroking Felix's face. “I don't want you to regret it. I need to be sure you're making the choice you want to make.” 

Felix's stomach clenched, hungry in a new way, but he forced himself to nod. “Fine. Two hours. But until then ... can I touch you?” A shiver went through Felix. He felt like he might die if Ashe said no, deprived of something he needed far more than water or food. 

“Only like this,” Ashe said, and set Felix's hands on their cheeks. 

Felix felt like he'd been granted life itself. He cupped Ashe's face, letting his thumbs stroke idly at their cheeks. 

He didn't know how long he sat there on the blankets under the tarp like that. At times, it felt like an eternity and he remembered the two-hour wait Ashe had imposed. At other times, it seemed like only an instant had passed. The dark deepened as Felix's head cleared, the world's brightness fading more rapidly than just the sunset could account for. Ashe let him touch their hair as well, their shoulders, their chest, but no lower. 

Ashe glanced out at the darkness, which had deepened, cloaking the forest, making the road a distant memory shrouded by the gloom. They looked back to Felix. “Time's up,” they said. “How do you feel?”

Felix's heart leapt as though released from a cage. He cupped Ashe's face in his hands and leaned forward and finally, finally, his lips touched their cheeks, covering that field of freckles in a soft trickle of kisses. He heard an intake of breath. Felix moved to the other cheek, wary of neglecting it. Then he trailed down, to Ashe's jaw, their neck, the gentle sweep of their collar bone, for even these places were flecked with spots like flowers in a tree. 

Ashe guided Felix's head up off their chest. They peered into Felix's eyes as though searching for the lingering traces of the flower's intoxicant. 

“I'm fine,” Felix said. “My mind is clear.” In fact, it had rarely been clearer, as though the effects of the perfume had washed him clean, leaving nothing but the thought of how badly he wanted to taste this person before him.

Ashe finally stopped studying him. This time, it was them leaning in. They pressed a soft kiss to Felix's lips. Felix could taste warmth, like the day's heat was escaping via Ashe's mouth, but also something floral and sweet, as intoxicating as the plants around them but in a wholly different way. 

Felix pressed closer, his lips reaching. His tongue ventured out and Ashe opened their mouth to let it inside. Felix licked, tasting the salt of the jerky, the coolness of the water they'd sipped out of plants, and always that warmth like trapped sunlight. 

He pushed more and Ashe settled on their back on the blankets. Felix returned to their neck, their chest, following the trail of freckles meandering across their body. Each seemed different, tasted different, and he cherished them all in turn, feeling no hurry. Ashe writhed under him, their hands clutching Felix's arms. They rolled their hips and Felix felt a hardness against his leg. He let a hand wander down to it and rubbed over the gauzy skirt. Ashe gasped. 

Felix lifted his head and was rewarded with a sight more glorious than any he'd witnessed while piloting the heavens. Ashe's eyes were lidded and rapturous, their lips rosy and parted around rasping pleas. A blush stole into their cheeks, tinging their faintly green skin. It made their freckles darker, even as the pink spread like blooms opening throughout verdant fields. 

Felix's hand slipped under the skirt, traveling up until he found Ashe's cock. Ashe squeezed their eyes shut. A shuddering moan sighed out as Felix started stroking, staying propped up, watching Ashe's face the entire time. He couldn't look away, even as Ashe squirmed below him. They rolled their hips up into Felix's hand. They clutched and scratched at Felix's arms. And, when Felix delivered them a quivering release, they whimpered his name, spitting it like a curse, something overwhelming and involuntary and sharp. 

“Felix,” Ashe said. 

Felix released their cock, kissing the sound of his name against their mouth, tasting it raw and ragged on their panting lips. 

Ashe took his head in their heads, studying Felix with glassy-eyed wonder. “I want to return that gift to you a thousand ways,” they said. 

Felix shivered. “Then do it.” 

Ashe surged up, and suddenly Felix was the one on his back.

#

Felix woke with Ashe's back against his chest, their legs tangled together and Felix's arm draped over Ashe's hip. He breathed in the silver hair near his face, basking in the scent of the sweat and lust the two of them had built up more than once, more than twice, last night. Where his body had found the stamina, he'd never know, but he was grateful it had. He'd fallen asleep thinking that even if that was the last his body had to offer, even if he was doomed to die in his sleep from pure exhaustion, it had been worth every moment.

Ashe gasped as they awoke. 

“It's OK,” Felix said. 

“No,” Ashe said, “listen.”

Felix paused, straining his ears. Then he heard it, a low hum, a thrumming, distant drone. It was such a familiar noise he hadn't even noticed it at first.

“Shit,” he hissed. He jerked up, scrambling for his clothes as Ashe did the same. They didn't even bother with the tent or supplies as they ran for the road. 

They burst from the forest and onto the clear strip of road. And there, high above, a glint of silver against the blue-green sky, was a sleek ship with blue stripes along its sides. 

Ashe looked to Felix, their eyes wide and frightened. “They're looking for you,” they said.

“No,” Felix said, his stomach plummeting into his feet, “they're looking for _you._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!
> 
> Join the [Ashelix discord](https://discord.gg/cjFuCx) to hear my incoherent screeching about my beloved rarepair! (Ask me for link if it's expired!)


	2. A Protector in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ship approaches the planet. Ashe and Felix sprint to intercept it before calamity can befall The Green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for Ashe Week 2020, prompt "pride." Sort of? Listen, I wrote 14 god damn fics. Prompts got real iffy by this point.

They ran. 

Ashe tried not to get too far ahead of Felix, but it was difficult with that sleek silver craft looming overhead like a curious bee buzzing near a flower it meant to plunder. 

_No, they're looking for_ you.

Ashe felt sick at the thought, sick at the idea that that glimmering streak of silver could mean death or worse for everyone they knew and loved. Their siblings. Their friends. Their neighbors. Whoever was in that ship could take them all away. 

“Ashe.” 

Ashe forced themself to slow. Felix, still exhausted and starving and weak, lagged behind. He caught up quickly, grabbing Ashe by the arm. 

“Don't rush in,” Felix panted. 

“I have to,” Ashe said. “They're going to--” But what _would_ the person in that ship do? Ashe had no idea. They'd heard stories about the last time Originals had come, about families taken away and never returned, folks who mysteriously disappeared, whole towns just _gone_. Is that what was coming? Is that what the person in that ship wanted to do, _had_ to do? 

“What's going to happen?” Ashe said. “What do they want?”

Felix looked away, guilty. “You're Divergents. There's ... protocol.” 

“Protocol?” 

“It doesn't matter,” Felix said.

Ashe wanted to scream that it did, that it was the most important thing in the universe right now, but they bit the cry back. 

“We need to act quickly,” Felix said. “We need to get to that pilot before anyone else does.” 

“We're still a ways from the city. How could we possibly?” 

“We have to run,” Felix said. “But when we get there ... I don't know yet. We just have to keep moving. Don't let me fall behind, OK, no matter what I say.” 

Felix offered his hand. Ashe took it, already fearing what they might have to do. Felix looked so tired, so frail, his cheeks sunken, dark shadows pooled under his eyes. 

Felix squeezed Ashe's hand. “There isn't time to waste.”

He started running and Ashe fell into step beside him. After only a short way, Felix said, “Faster. Don't let me slow us down. We don't have time.” 

Ashe picked up their pace. It was easy when they focused on the settlement ahead: the tendrils of smoke from hearths, the peaks of buildings prickling the skyline, the river like a glittering ribbon winding through the city. Their siblings were in there somewhere, probably tending to the garden in Ashe's absence, so resourceful and reliable even though they were younger than Ashe, even though the three of them were the only family they each had left in the world. Unbidden, a horrible image arose, an image of losing that last fragile thread of family, seeing their siblings taken away or killed or worse. 

Felix stumbled beside them. Ashe slowed, but Felix shook his head, lacking the breath to urge them onward. 

Ashe pushed, hating the way Felix's hand grasped theirs, hating the wheezes they heard at their side. Above, the silver ship was gliding lower, unhurried. 

The city grew before them. Ashe could make out individual structures now, could see the balconies fringing the homes, the bridges leaping over the river. They started to pass the farms at the edge of city, the fields growing the food that sustained the entire populace. The farmers stood among their crops, looking up. When they saw Ashe, when they saw what Ashe dragged along behind them, their shocked gazes fell lower. 

“Wait,” Felix gasped.

Ashe kept running. No matter what. That's what he'd said. 

“Wait,” Felix said again.

Ashe didn't so much as slow.

Felix pulled so hard Ashe was suddenly yanked backward. It must have cost Felix terribly, for he bent over now, panting. 

“Felix, we're almost there,” Ashe said. “We have to keep going.” 

“No,” Felix gasped between breaths. “Not ... not yet...”

“Why not? What are we waiting for?”

The ship had vanished from the sky, landing somewhere nearby, presumably. At any moment, that pilot could walk into the city and all would be lost. 

“Flowers,” Felix said.

“What?” 

Felix finally caught his breath. “I have an idea,” he said.

#

They found the ship crouched in a farmer's field. The poor farmer had wisely run, abandoning her crops, now crushed under the metal legs the ship had set down.

Ashe and Felix hid around the side of the farmhouse. The ship was hissing and whirring like a giant beetle.

“Testing the atmosphere,” Felix said. “We got here in time.” 

“Are you sure this will work?” Ashe said. “What if they already told their comrades about us?”

Felix shook his head, smiling wryly at Ashe. “Can't. Our comm systems are shit. He's way out of range.”

“He?”

Felix's smile withered to a grimace. “Yeah.” But that's all he said.

The tone of the machine's whining softened. 

“We have to go now,” Felix said. “You ready?”

Ashe nodded, shifting their hold on the delicate bundle in their arms. 

Felix nodded. “Alright. Follow my lead.” 

A hatch in the ship lifted. A man poked his head out of the cockpit, cautiously removing a helmet to reveal a shock of red hair. He gaped at the alien landscape around him (alien to him, Ashe thought, but home for so many). 

Felix left their cover and jogged toward the pilot, waving his arms. From where Ashe stayed hidden, they could hear Felix call out to the man.

“Sylvain.”

The man startled, whipping out a gun. He blinked, lowering the weapon just as quickly. “F-Felix? Holy shit, man, how the fuck?” 

Felix made a show of stumbling up to the pilot. “Goddess, I'm glad to see you.”

The pilot jumped down from his ship, taking Felix by the shoulders, looking him up and down. 

“How are you alive?” the pilot, Sylvain, said.

“Ingrid wrote me off that quickly, huh?” Felix said.

“Who wouldn't? You spiraled into the atmosphere totally out of control. We all assumed you burned up.”

Felix tsked. “I'm a better pilot than that.” 

“But,” Sylvain said, “even if you survived the landing, how did you survive--” He waved at the greenery all around “--this?”

“Don't be stupid,” Felix said. “Everything is edible. This place is like a greenhouse.” 

Sylvain just shook his head. The next moment, he grabbed Felix, wrapping his arms around the other man. “Holy shit, dude, I'm so glad you're alive.” 

Felix pushed him away. “Don't get emotional about it. I did what I needed to. But I'm half-starved. Get me out of here.” 

Ashe's heart caught in their throat. This was it, this was the moment that would determine how the rest of their plan unfolded. They gently increased the pressure on the bundle they held. 

“Right,” Sylvain said. “Right, you must feel like shit. But we can't go.”

Ashe's blood went cold.

“Why not?” Felix tried. “Come on. I want to get out of here.” 

“Dude, there's _Divergents_ here,” Sylvain said. “I mean, look at where you're standing. This field has been tended. There's a damn _house_ over there. A946-x is supposed to be uninhabited.” 

“I know,” Felix said. Even Sylvain must have been able to hear the note of resignation in his voice. “Alright, let's get this over with.” 

If this Sylvain found Felix's comment strange, he did not show it. He closed up his ship, badgering Felix with questions. 

“Do you need anything? Are you injured? When was the last time you ate? Seriously, how did you survive?”

Felix did not respond. Ashe watched him guide Sylvain toward the house where Ashe crouched.

Ashe took a deep breath, slowly unwrapping the bundle in his arms. It would take so little to mess this up, but Ashe was careful and deliberate. And when Felix got behind Sylvain, shoving him forward before the pilot knew what was happening, Ashe was ready. 

They exposed the flowers in the bundle, squeezing them to startle them into action. 

Even as Sylvain gaped at Ashe, Ashe turned their face away, holding the white flowers toward Sylvain. The blooms exhaled their perfume reflexively. Ashe dropped the bundle the moment the perfume sighed out and held their breath, running away several steps before they finally gasped for fresh air.

Even so, their head felt a little lighter. 

Felix had them by the shoulders. “Are you alright? Did it get you?”

Ashe wavered a little in his hold. “A little,” they said. “I'm OK. Did I ... did it get him?”

Felix glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, I'd say so.” 

Ashe looked back toward the pilot. Sylvain wavered on his feet, his eyes wide and gaping. He collapsed as Ashe and Felix watched, a crazed smile on his face. 

“Maybe it was too much,” Ashe said. 

“He'll be fine,” Felix said. “The perfume isn't lethal, right?”

Ashe shook their head. “I've never known anyone hurt by it. But that was ... a lot. I'd be surprised if he remembers his own name right now.”

“Good,” Felix said. 

Felix started toward the fallen pilot, who was now giggling to himself. Ashe caught his wrist. “What do we do now? What happens when it wears off?”

Felix looked down at his feet a moment. When he shifted his eyes up, he took Ashe's hands in his. “When it wears off, he'll be back on our command ship.” 

Ashe's stomach curled, but they asked anyway, their voice small: “How--how will he get there? He can't fly.” 

“I know,” Felix said. 

He stepped closer, stroking a finger along Ashe's cheek. 

“He won't be able to fly for hours,” Ashe said, voice quivering. 

“I know,” Felix said again. 

“He'll ... need help.” 

Felix leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Ashe's. Ashe closed their eyes, savoring the feel of this strange Original who was running his calloused fingers along their face. Felix tilted, and Ashe felt his lips, soft and lingering this time, a sharp contrast to the urgency and hunger of the previous night. Then, the minutes had seemed to stretch out forever, each one longer than the next, the wait utterly interminable. Now, each heartbeat escaped too quickly, the tenuous space they held each other in slipping between their fingers like sand. 

They broke apart, but Felix stayed close, his fingers wandering as though memorizing Ashe's freckles.

“Will you come back?” Ashe said.

They saw Felix's throat bob as he swallowed. “No,” he said. “They would know. They would find you.”

“It seems like they're going to find us anyway,” Ashe said.

“I won't let them,” Felix said. “I'll stop them.”

“My protector in the stars?” Ashe smiled a little. 

A tinge of color touched Felix's cheeks. “It's not like that. It's just--you deserve to get to live in peace, don't you? Don't all of us?”

“We do,” Ashe said. “But it might be a while before my heart is at peace again.”

Felix's jaw jerked as he clenched it. “Mine too.” 

He drew Ashe to him, kissing them again, lingering against their lips. Ashe could hear the deep breaths Felix took, as though he was trying to inhale that moment, trap it inside him. 

Ashe held his tattered pilot's uniform, dragging Felix back with him until they met the side of the building. There, for a moment, the world pressed them together, the structure at Ashe's back helping their bodies lean into each other. Ashe brought a leg up around Felix's hips, drawing him nearer. Felix's hand trailed down Ashe's body, caressing their ass before continuing on to help Ashe's leg hike higher. 

Felix's mouth moved to Ashe's neck, sucking at the freckles trailing down to their chest. Ashe sighed, gripping Felix's hair. They could feel Felix's eagerness against them where their hips met. Ashe responded in kind, tilting their hips to grind against this strange man who'd fallen into their life. 

“Hot.”

They both froze. 

“Fuck,” Felix muttered against Ashe's throat. 

They glanced aside to where Sylvain lay on the ground, his eyes wide and glazed, his mouth agape. He was hard, but did not seem to notice. 

“It's like,” Sylvain said, “like, you were two things, but you're gonna be one thing. Like origami, right? Wow.” 

“Merciful fucking goddess,” Felix grumbled against Ashe.

Ashe laughed, coaxing Felix's face up. “He's not going to remember.”

Felix gnawed at his lip, musing over the implications of that statement. “He's right there.”

“I don't care,” Ashe said. “I want you. Once more.” They stroked Felix's face. “Before you disappear into the stars.”

Felix protested no further. The urgency returned, the need, as Felix turned Ashe around to face the wall. His mouth stayed at Ashe's neck, even as he ground his body against Ashe's, even as he reached up under the gauzy skirt and pumped Ashe's cock, even as his own cock rubbed against Ashe's thighs and ass. 

Sylvain muttered somewhere off to the side. (“Damn, that's hot.” “I've never seen a green one.” “Shit, Felix, you're gonna leave a mark.” “Origami, dude.”) But his voice faded away as Ashe luxuriated in the sensation of Felix's body against theirs. One more time. Just one. 

Felix's hand worked quickly, efficiently, and Ashe was soon singing out Felix's name. 

Even spent and quivering, it was bittersweet to reach that release, to feel Felix's hand withdraw. They sank down, coming to their knees to bring Felix to their mouth. 

“You're, like, both so beautiful,” Sylvain murmured somewhere. 

Ashe just smiled, their mouth and tongue and hand working in tandem. It didn't take much, after what they'd already done, and then Felix was kneeling with Ashe, holding them against him, panting and ragged and clinging. 

Ashe clung right back. They closed their eyes, stroking Felix's hair, breathing in the tang of his sweat, feeling his heart trying to beat out of his chest and into theirs. 

When they finally eased apart, Sylvain was crying. 

Ashe smiled, shaking their head. “He's deep in it,” they said. “He needs you.”

“I know,” Felix said. He ran his thumb over Ashe's cheeks, brushing across their freckles.

Then he stood. 

They righted their clothing and hair, but nothing could right the broken shards stabbing at Ashe's chest. 

Ashe helped Felix get Sylvain to his feet, helped bundle the incoherent pilot into his ship. 

Felix did not climb back down. He stayed in the ship, Sylvain lolling against him, and Ashe lowered to the ground. 

“Don't go,” Sylvain said. 

“Shut up,” Felix said. 

“But ... but ... origami,” Sylvain said. “This isn't right.”

“Shut up,” Felix said more sharply. 

Sylvain's focus shifted. He looked up, reaching for Felix. “You're pretty.”

Even from the ground, Ashe could see Felix gritting his teeth while Sylvain pet at him. 

“What will you tell him?” Ashe said.

Felix shrugged. “That it was a dream. That he got drugged. That he came here to save me and I ended up having to haul his stupid ass back to base.” 

Ashe nodded. “As long as I wasn't just a dream to you.”

Felix swallowed. “No,” he said. “You weren't.” 

He said no more and nor did Ashe. They stared a moment, hearts already aching with distance. 

Felix punched at the ship's controls and the hatch started to lower, slowly cutting off the sight of the two pilots.

Ashe stood in the farmer's field a long while, watching the ship whirl and whine, watching it lift into the air, watching it fly above the verdant green of A946-x, until it was no more than a silver streak among the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda want to write more sci-fi space opera TBH but I do like how this story concludes for now. 
> 
> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!
> 
> Join the [Ashelix discord](https://discord.gg/cjFuCx) to hear my incoherent screeching about my beloved rarepair! (Ask me for link if it's expired!)


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